Episode 190: Rebuilding from the Bottom Up - Denominational Reformation Through Local Congregations
“As you consume these materials and as you do grow and as you do seek to implement change in reformation in the denomination, in your classis, and in your church…these things are messy. [Why?] Because we're dealing with sinners who sin. That is the truth of the matter…We act very consistently with our nature and the old man dies very hard. But by the grace of God, by His Spirit—if he is merciful towards us, then I think we can take comfort in the words that he gave to his disciples in Matthew chapter 16. Jesus promised to build his church on the confession that he is the Christ, ‘and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it’…That is our hope. That is our battle cry. We, as the church militant, understand we not only have our marching orders, but we have a promise and a guarantee for victory. So, continue to fight this good fight and continue to understand that it is Christ who is building this church, and he calls you to be faithful in how he is using you.” -Willy Krahnke
Summary of this Episode
This week on The Messy Reformation podcast, Jason and Willy are back reflecting on where we go from Synod 2024. Jason continues to share about training officebearers intentionally but also the broader congregation in the confessions. He notes this can also be done at home, and shares a personal dream to create a new children’s version of the Heidelberg Catechism that would mimic the shorter versions other catechisms have. (Editor’s Note: Older CRC members may remember “the Compendium”—an abbreviated 74-question version of the Heidelberg Catechism that was originally written back in 1599 to help youth memorize.) Willy playfully proposes this would be a good resource to come from the Messy Reformation Publishing House.
After Jason notes that the CRC’s publications have tended to be shallow in terms of the confessions and continental Reformed theology, Willy steers the conversation to contrast the Three Forms of Unity (3FU) with the Westminster Standards. To be clear, these documents are all Reformed and can be widely accepted but they are different. While in the past Willy termed the 3FU as more “pastoral,” he thinks “liturgical” is more accurate, while the Standards are more “cerebral” or “theologically exhaustive.” Willy asks if there’s something about the nature of our tradition’s confessions that have led to shallower writing?
Jason wants to be clear, the 3FU do not lack theological depth. He shares his thoughts on how we got where we are: “…For so many years, I was told…all [the Christian Reformed Church] cared about was doctrine [but practically] we don't care about doctrine.” He shares an example from Nicholas Wolterstoff of how assumptions got made in previous generations when it came to doctrinal knowledge and a shift occurred. “We need to live this out and engage culture and transform society. We need to do all of that because everybody ‘knows’ the doctrine stuff.” Yet what did that assumption do? “...The doctrine got left behind, and we wandered off into all this foolishness where we've found ourselves…I think that's why we've become more doctrinally shallow is because it's been assumed that we just…know that and we've been trying to get away from…this characterization that we're “the heady denomination” when we haven't been for years. It would be good for us to try to become the denomination that has deep-thinking theology that's impacting the way we lead our churches and in our denomination.”
Willy points out the importance of being clear on what we mean with doctrine or influences because groups can use the same language for different ends. “When we each want to implement changes in culture and interact with society, we are going to be doing them very differently because our ultimate commitments are different.”
As they move on to talk about rebuilding—which they see as starting with the ordinary parts of the Christian life at the grassroots level, they also propose some resources for listeners to consider to be equipped in their faith. Jason recommends John Calvin’s “On the Christian Life,” reading the Bible devotionally (with consideration of using the M’Cheyne Reading Plan), and reading and praying through the confessions devotionally. Willy recommends R.C. Sproul’s “Essential Truths of the Christian Faith” and “The Holiness of God” as well as John Piper’s “Desiring God” and J.I. Packer’s “Knowing God.” He sees these as really helping craft one’s theological foundation. “I think…part of the reason why we have fallen so short on our views of human sexuality, our views of men and women—our anthropology has suffered because we have not had a theology proper that has actually been sufficient.”
Willy leaves us with this last word, “As you consume these materials and as you do grow and as you do seek to implement change in reformation in the denomination, in your classis, and in your church…these things are messy. [Why?] Because we're dealing with sinners who sin. That is the truth of the matter…We act very consistently with our nature and the old man dies very hard. But by the grace of God, by His Spirit—if he is merciful towards us, then I think we can take comfort in the words that he gave to his disciples in Matthew chapter 16.” Jesus promised to build his church on the confession that he is the Christ, “‘and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it’…That is our hope. That is our battle cry. We, as the church militant, understand we not only have our marching orders, but we have a promise and a guarantee for victory. So, continue to fight this good fight and continue to understand that it is Christ who is building this church, and he calls you to be faithful in how he is using you.”